Shanti Pereira breaks Singapore record, qualifies for 200m semis at World Athletics Championships
Singapore’s reigning Asian champion Shanti Pereira booked her spot in the 200m semi-finals at the World Athletics Championships on Wednesday, breaking her national record along the way.
At the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Pereira clocked 22.57 seconds to finish second in Heat Three behind Jamaica’s defending champion Shericka Jackson (22.51sec)
The 26-year-old’s previous best was 22.69sec that she set en route to winning gold at the Cambodia SEA Games in May.
With the top three of each heat and the next fastest qualifiers advancing to the 200m semi-finals on Thursday (Friday morning Singapore time), Pereira was guaranteed her first appearance in the final 24 at the world meet in the Hungarian capital.
This is the first time that Pereira, who missed the cut for the 100m semi-final on Monday, has made the semi-finals at four world championships.
Pereira had qualified for the Aug 19-27 world meet on merit through her world rankings in the 100m and 200m, becoming the first Singaporean to do so since at least 2011, when national body Singapore Athletics began to track such data.
This is the latest achievement for Pereira in 2023. In July, she won a historic 100-200m sprint double at the Asian championships in Bangkok, just two months after achieving feat at the Cambodia SEA Games.
Since March, Pereira has rewritten her 100m national mark six times and lowered her 200m standard thrice.
Having clocked the fastest times in Asia for both events this season, Pereira looks set to be a medal contender at the Sept 23-Oct 8 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
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